Course Syllabus

WMS 50: Introduction to Women and Gender Studies

Fall 2014 TR 10:30 - 11:50 AM Scrub Oak Auditorium 160

Professor Maxine Craig mbcraig@ucdavis.edu 

Mailbox: 2201 Hart Hall /Office Telephone: (530) 752-8642 

Office: 1223 Hart Hall  Office hours Tuesdays 12 – 2 and by appointment

Required Texts: 

Gwyn Kirk & Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives,  6th Edition. Hereafter: WL. 

A required course reader is available at DAVIS COPY SHOP 231 3rd Street.

Additional articles are available electronically through the library. Hereafter: ELIB.

Week 1: Oct. 2: Introduction to the course.

Read: WL Chapter 1 & readings 1 – 6.

Week 2: Oct. 7: Quiz 1 on chapter 2. Read: WL Chapter 2.

Oct. 9: Read: WL readings 7 – 11, reading 53.

Week 3: Oct. 14: Quiz 2 on Martin’s Becoming a Gendered Body.  Read: ELIB: Karin A. Martin. “Becoming a gendered body: Practices of preschools.” American Sociological Review 63(1998): 494-511.

Oct. 16: WL Chapter 3 & Readings 12 – 19.

Week 4: Oct. 21:  Critical reading/ foundation paper due in class.

No reading assignment. Film shown in class.

Oct. 23: Read: WL Chapter 11 & Reading 64. Guest Lecture by Professor Nettles-Barcelon.

Week 5: Oct. 28: Read: WL Chapter 4 & and readings 20 -25 & ELIB: Nicola Gavey, Kathryn McPhillips, & Marion Doherty. “If it’s not on, it’s not on – or is it?” Gender & Society 15 (2001): 917-934.

Oct. 30: Quiz 3 on chapter 5. Read: WL5 Chapter 5 & Readings 26 – 32.

Week 6: Nov. 4: In class midterm.

Nov. 6: Read: WL Chapter 6 & Readings 33 – 37.

Week 7: Nov. 11: Veterans Day. No class.

Read: WL Chapter 7 & readings 39 & 40 & Read: ELIB: Adia Harvey Wingfield. “Racializing the Glass Escalator: Reconsidering Men's Experiences with Women's Work” Gender & Society 23(1): 5-26, (Feb 2009)

Week 8: Nov. 18: Quiz 4 on WL Chapter 8 Read WL Chapter 8 & readings 44 – 45.

Nov. 20: Read WL Chapter 9 & readings 50 – 55.

Week 9: Nov. 25: Pascoe article Read: ELIB: C. J. Pascoe. “‘Dude, You're a Fag: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse” Sexualities 8(3): 329-346 (July 2005) and Read:  RDR: “Dear John Wayne” by Sherman Alexie.

Nov. 27: Thanksgiving. No class.

Week 10: Dec. 2: Quiz 5 on chapter 10 Read WL Chapter 10.

Dec. 4: Read: Readings 56 – 61.

Week 11: Dec. 9: Read:  RDR Read: RDR Deborah Gerson. “Making Sexism Visible” & Tommi Avicolli Mecca “Sometimes you work with the Democrats, And sometimes you riot” from Ten years that shook the city: San Francisco 1968-1978 /edited by Chris Carlsson with Lisa Ruth Elliott. San Francisco: City Lights Books, c2011.

Dec. 11: Read: WL Chapter 12.

Paper due.

Course Requirements:

Preparation for class & participation. (10%)

Attendance in lecture and discussion section is mandatory. Meaningful, constructive participation in class and section will raise your participation grade. Complete the day’s assigned reading before each class and use that preparation as the basis for participation in class discussions.

Quizzes. (20%)

There will be 5 short quizzes as indicated on the syllabus. The quizzes will be on the day’s assigned reading. Quizzes will be given at the beginning of class and can not be made up if missed. Students are required to complete 4 of the 5 quizzes.  

Critical reading of gender in journalism/foundation: (10%) This 3 - 5 page paper is based on your critical reading of the way in which gender is represented in an article from the news. The topic of the article does not have to be gender. For example you may write about the representation of a woman in a newspaper article about the conflict in Ukraine, or you could write about how a transgendered person is represented in an article about local politics. Another approach would be to compare the way people of different genders are written about within the same news article. Be sure to consider gender as it intersects with other dimensions of identity such as race, ethnicity, class, or sexuality. Connect your observations to the assigned class readings. Pages 60 – 62 of  WL directly address the representation of gender in the media. Issues of representation can also be found throughout the textbook and the additional assigned readings. Demonstrate your use of the reading by using a minimum of one quotation from one chapter, reading, or assigned article. When you quote a reading, provide a page number and citation to the source. Be sure to include a copy of the newspaper article, when you submit your paper to your TA.

Your essay should have an argument. For example you may argue that in an article about sports, attention is given to women’s appearance. Support your argument with examples from the newspaper item. For example use quotes from the article, or describe images that accompanied the article. After quoting or describing an example explain your interpretation of the example. Though the preparation assignment is only worth 10%, take this assignment seriously. It will be the foundation for your second paper.

Critical reading of gender in journalism paper: (20%) This 5 – 7 page paper builds upon your first paper. Use this opportunity to revise your first paper, deepen your analysis, and bring in concepts from assigned readings that have been covered in the second half of the course. Demonstrate your use of the readings by using a minimum of three quotations from three chapters, readings, or assigned articles.  Attach a copy of your foundation paper to this paper.

Midterm Exam Nov.4  (20%)

Final Exam (20%)

Monday, December 15 at 1:00 pm

Written assignments: All written work should be typed using 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, stapled and proofread. Provide page numbers in your citations of quoted passages of assigned readings. Number your pages but do not count title pages in your pagination. Papers are due at the beginning of class. Late papers will not be accepted.

Plagiarism & Academic Dishonesty: Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s words or ideas as your own. Assignments in which there is plagiarism or academic dishonesty will receive no credit and be reported to Student Judicial Affairs. Revisions of these assignments will not be accepted. Examples of plagiarism include any instance of presenting someone else’s words as your own, copying someone else’s term paper, or copying words from a published source or from the Internet without providing attribution. Submitting the same paper to two classes is academic dishonesty.